Tom and Jerry Music

Preamble: Yes, I know that arguably this post falls into the class of “pointless stuff I generally detest”, but I figured it might interest someone else looking for the info.

This morning my hi-fi alarm went off (as usual), was tuned into some kind of classical music station (as usual), and just about failed to wake me up (as usual). What was unusual was that as I was half asleep listening to the static-filled music – my hi-fi has no aerial to speak of; it’s a wonder it gets any reception at all – was that I recognized the piece that was playing. While I didn’t know its name or even the composer, I could clearly see the scene from the Tom and Jerry cartoon Mice Follies in which it featured. The scene is the one where Tom is effortlessly keeping up with Jerry and Nibbles’ skating while dodging chairs and various other part of furniture. At the end I just about made out the presenter mentioning Strauss and “spring”.

It turns out the piece in question was in fact Voices of Spring by Johan Strauss. The other bit of classical music more prominently featured in that cartoon is The Sleeping Beauty Waltz by Tchaikovsky. I’ve known that for a while, but before I did it irritated me not knowing. However, it had escaped me that they had segued a part of another piece in there.

It’s the little things in life…

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I might as well include a couple of things to sustain your interest. The following is my favourite expression of the cartoon (though there are a couple of close contenders):

Tom always has such great expressions.

And for your viewing pleasure, I’ve included the cartoon, courtesy of the good folks at YouTube. Keep fighting the takedown notices guys!